Seahawks: Rating the Rookies

How did the Seahawks top 2012 draft picks perform against the Cardinals? We'll take a look at the numbers.

First round pick Bruce Irvin, second round pick Bobby Wagner and third round pick Russell Wilson all saw extended playing time for the Seahawks last Sunday in their loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Here are the stats on how they played.

Bruce Irvin, DE

Played 35 of Seattle's 64 defensive snaps, and was also on the field for 6 special-teams plays
Irvin was credited with no tackles, and he didn't have a sack, though he did have one quarterback hit.

"Bruce played solid," coach Pete Carroll said. "Didn't get at the quarterback, but was around it. Played a lot of plays in this game and was a big part of the plan. We'll see him continue to get better."

Bobby Wagner, LB

Played 32 of Seattle's 64 defensive snaps, and was on the field for 6 special-teams plays
credited with a solo tackle and two assists on defense, and also had a special-teams tackle. Wagner is the middle linebacker, but Seattle used its nickel and Bandit defenses so often Sunday he was only on the field for half of Seattle's defensive snaps. On Arizona's drive for the game-winning touchdown, he was on the field for only two of the 11 plays that series.

Russell Wilson, QB
Played all 81 of Seattle's offensive snaps. Opinions of his performance differ, since the team lost, and the offensive line had a lot of trouble with the Cardinals' pass rush. One writer said that on the grading scale of recent Seahawks quarterbacks, Wilson's debut was markedly better than a Charlie Whitehurst performance,and he came closer to a fourth-quarter comeback victory than Tarvaris Jackson ever did last season.